Kaiser Ferdinand III. - Soldatenplünderungen im Dreißigjährigen Krieg - 1645

An impressive imperial government document from the final phase of the Thirty Years' War, making tangible the immediate consequences of the military and financial crisis for administration and the population: Emperor Ferdinand III calls for the immediate settlement of the funds spent on the regiments and at the same time responds to the riots and looting by unpaid soldiers. Ferdinand III. (1608–1657), Roman-German Emperor, King of Hungary and Bohemia, and Archduke of Austria. Hand-signed imperial decree, issued in the capital Linz on October 1, 1645. With a large imperial seal impressed beneath a sheet of paper. A single sheet bidirectionally inscribed, ca. 31 × 21 cm. The letter is in direct connection with the difficult military situation of the year 1645. After the heavy burdens of the war and the military setbacks of that year, the Habsburg administration faced serious funding problems, unsettled payments, and the provisioning of troops stationed in the country. On the first page, Ferdinand III. addresses an accounting procedure for a stationed regiment, referred to as the “Abreithungswerck,” which had not yet been completed. The local councils had attributed the delay to bureaucratic difficulties and still outstanding information from the Court War Treasury. The Emperor allows the excuses this one time, but issues the councils a strict and unequivocal order: the settlement is a “most essential task” and must not be postponed any further. Directly afterward, the Emperor deals with the second, dramatic point of the report: the serious outbreaks of violence and looting by the unpaid soldiers ("geclagte Excesses der Soldaten"), which plunge the country into ruin and complete insecurity. The Emperor emphasizes that the misery of the land had already been detailed to him by the Estates. He points the councillors to strict ordinances and countermeasures which he had issued only a few days earlier (on September 28). The local officials are now to adhere strictly to these orders to curb the soldiers’ violence. The document thus unusually clearly records the connection between war financing, administrative problems, failure to pay soldiers, and attacks on the civilian population. A historically meaningful original document from one of the most critical phases of the Thirty Years’ War, only three years before the Peace of Westphalia. Lower right is a spectacularly well-preserved large Imperial Secret Seal (signet) under a paper backing. It shows the double-headed imperial Reichsadler, bearing the Habsburg-Austrian coat of arms, surrounded by the ruler’s titulature (here impressed). Overall, an attractive and historically particularly meaningful original document, with age-typical folding and wear, as well as small edge damage; the script, signatures, and the large imperial seal are very nicely preserved."

Estimate:$476.09

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